Abuses committed by African militaries in the fight against Boko Haram have raised important questions about U.S. military involvement in the conflict, particularly the debate about U.S. military assistance and the role of the nearly 1,800 U.S. personnel across West and Central Africa.

Biya now faces two major security threats. In the southeast, where the Anglophone minority predominates, there is an insurrection in response to decades of repression and marginalization by Biya’s government. In the far north of Cameroon, predominately Muslim, is also disaffected from Biya’s ostensibly Christian regime. Boko Haram is active there.